Tips on How to Buy and Buy Authentic Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures
Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while touring the nation. These are the stunning handmade sculptures sculpted from stone by the Inuit artists living in the northern Arctic areas of Canada. While in some of the major Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Quebec City) or other traveler locations popular with international visitors such as Banff, Inuit sculptures will be seen at different retail shops and displayed at some museums. Because Inuit art has actually been getting a growing number of global exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. As a result, it will be natural for lots of travelers and art collectors to decide that they wish to purchase Inuit sculptures as nice mementos for their homes or as very unique presents for others. Presuming that the intent is to acquire an authentic piece of Inuit art rather than a inexpensive traveler replica, the question emerges on how does one differentiate the real thing from the phonies?
It would be pretty frustrating to bring home a piece just to find out later that it isn't really genuine and even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be securely assumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a regional northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. One would have to be more cautious elsewhere in Canada, particularly in traveler areas where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, key chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.
The best places to buy Inuit sculptures to make sure credibility are constantly the trusted galleries that specialize in Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have advertisements in the city tour guide discovered in hotels.
Respectable Inuit art galleries are also noted in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely to Inuit art. When one strolls into these galleries, one will see that there will be just Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical tourist souvenirs such as t-shirts or postcards . The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed.
Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could go shopping and purchase genuine Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now respectable online galleries that also specialize in authentic Inuit art.
Some traveler shops do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy mementos in order to cater to all types of travelers. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and for that reason needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and nothing else on the store racks will look precisely like it.
Where it ends up being more difficult to determine credibility are with the recreations that are also made from stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with genuine Inuit art. They do have mass and may even have some kind of tag showing that it was handcrafted however if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are more than likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is genuine, ask to see the official Igloo tag that comes with it which will have information on the artist, area where it was made and the year it was sculpted. Move on if the Igloo tag is not readily available. The genuine pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will always be the highest priced and are typically kept in a different ( Kurt Criter Denver possibly even locked) rack within the store.
Since Inuit art has been getting more and more global direct exposure, individuals may be seeing this Canadian fine art type at galleries and museums located outside Canada too. If one is lucky enough to be taking a trip in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their wonderful art work, then it can be safely assumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Reliable Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted totally to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture might be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all genuine pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries likewise have sites so you might go shopping and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world.